Mystery Dungeon: Portal Rescue Team
by Xelac
Summary: GLaDOS, Chell, Wheatley, and others from Aperture find themselves stuck in another universe and turned into Pokemon. With nothing else to do, the form a rescue team as an excuse to explore Dungeons and search for leads on how they got into this world and how they can get home.
1. Thorn Woods

**A/N: This came about as I was reading one of the many Pokémon/Portal crossovers. I disagreed, as usual, with their choice of Pokémon for each of the characters and started thinking about what Pokémon I would make them. This lead to me thinking up a story as an excuse to show what Pokémon I think each of the Portal characters should be. I will explain my reasoning for each character at the end of a chapter in which new characters are introduced. If you have any objections or want to share your own reasoning, feel free to review, I'm curious to see how other people match characters to Pokémon.**

**This fanfiction is going to take place in a Mystery Dungeon universe, probably a conglomeration of Red/Blue Rescue Team and Explorers of Time/Darkness plus some made-up stuff to accommodate later generations. Also, I have all of the Pokémon in this fic, nicknamed and everything, in Alpha Sapphire as a way to simulate what's going on so I know how strong they will be at certain levels and how quickly they will level up. **

**Edit: Thunderous River is now to the **_**west**_** of town. That's it. No need to reread it.**

Something was very, very wrong. As GLaDOS's mind slowly crept back into consciousness, she realized to what extent how wrong things were. She was completely disconnected from her chassis and lying on some sort of floor. Her thoughts, rather than being neatly packed into files, were now fluid and mixed together. _Am I… organic? Did someone transfer me into a human body?_ She wondered as panic began to rise inside her. She tried to move. She tried to turn on her optic or open her eyes or whatever she had in terms of vision.

Opening a single eye, she could see small amounts of light filtering through a thick canopy leaves above her through blades of long grass. She was in a forest, she realized, with the circuit-chilling sound of birds ringing overhead. Gathering her strength, and fighting down what she figured must be nausea, she lifted herself up and assessed the situation.

GLaDOS could tell she had been turned into something organic – she was breathing, in a way, and her brain was in no way a computer – and yet she still felt somewhat mechanical. She had no limbs, and was apparently levitating without even thinking about it. Her spherical head was set in a ball-and-socket joint at the end of her long, vaguely cylindrical body, allowing her to look in every direction except behind herself and straight up due to some sort of crest above her head, and she seemed to be covered in dark blue-gray metal.

Since she could levitate, she wondered if she could fly, since getting above the trees could help her figure out where to go. She forced herself higher, noting that floating higher cost more energy. She lowered herself again to comfortable level that wasn't difficult to maintain but was higher than the grass and looked around. She was in a forest clearing, with thick underbrush and trees on either side with a pathway extending to the side. The thorny bushes and spikey trunks formed a wall of wood, thorns, and leaves that seemed too thick to push through and too high to levitate over without a great deal of effort. The pathway was also surrounded, making it essentially a dark corridor.

She pushed herself forward, entering the corridor as she searched the soup that was left her mind to try to figure out what happened. The last thing she clearly remembered was testing Orange and Blue, but after that… nothing. She vaguely remembered pain and light, but for the most part it was like everything faded before she woke up here, in a strange new body in the middle of the wilderness. Maybe some sort of portal device malfunctioned; after all, a myriad of problems had occurred with the Perpetual Testing Initiative all those years ago, including employees and equipment suddenly going missing. Unfortunately, the scientists had never found a way to bring all those people or machinery back.

As the corridor opened into another clearing, again surrounded by thick foliage, GLaDOS heard a soft, high-pitched growl. A rat-like creature with purple fur was glaring at her, whiskers twitching, baring its large fangs. With a squeak, it lunged at her, bashing its little face against her side.

_Rattata used Tackle! It's not very effective…_

A small amount of pain flared from the impact, but barely bothered her. The rat backed up, preparing for another lunge. GLaDOS knew she wasn't fast enough to flee, and while it didn't hurt much, it would certainly be annoying to have this thing follow her around, bashing its face against her. Her only weapon was her own face, but the difference was that she was made of metal.

_GLaDOS used Take Down! GLaDOS is damaged by the recoil!_

Attacking the rat hurt worse than getting attacked by it. Luckily, it was enough. The animal was knocked backward and slid along the ground unceremoniously. Getting up and shaking itself, it turned and fled. The pain from the battle slowly ebbed as GLaDOS pressed on through the forest.

After traveling for a while, she found a clearing with clear pond and decided to check her reflection. A single, golden eye stared back at her through the rippling water, much like her real body, except it was attached to a small, levitating cylinder of metal rather than the large, impressive chassis she was used to. The creature she had become was nothing like anything ever documented by science, at least not in the universe she was from. It was likely that this was one of the parallel universes discovered during the doomed-to-fail Perpetual Testing Initiative, which resulted in many interesting worlds being found. Out of curiosity, she lightly touched the surface of the water. She could feel the cool wetness, a little, at least. She noticed that she lacked any sort of mouth and was wondering if she needed to drink when she heard the scream of a bitterly familiar voice followed by a loud splash.

"Oh, for God's- a dead end!" the accented voice, surprisingly, came from a reddish-orange fish that had just fallen into the pond from a small waterfall that fed into it at the opposite end. The fish hovered at the surface, glaring at the short waterfall. "It's bad enough that I couldn't fight the current, but at least I was _going_ somewhere. Now what?" He turned and spotted GLaDOS. "Oh. Hello!" he called, clearly not recognizing her as he tried to wave with his fin only to flop onto his side in the water.

GLaDOS sighed. "Of all the people I could have run into, of course I run into the dumbest moron who ever lived, who nearly destroyed my entire facility."

What had appeared to be a grin on Wheatley's face quickly disappeared. "Oh. And of course _I_ had to run into _you_, the… the…"

"Most intelligent, advanced AI ever created?"

"NO! I mean, well, yes, but you are also the, um, the… most… mean, yeah, the meanest AI ever created!" the fish shot back.

"I would think that betraying and attempting to kill the one and only person who ever helped you and possibly even liked you was a rather mean thing to do. Not to mention stuffing me into a potato. Thanks for that, by the way," she responded coldly.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I… You…"

"You know what? You're wasting my time. I need to figure out a way to get to my facility, and you are obviously nothing but a diversion." She turned to leave and began levitating away.

"W-wait!" Wheatley called, leaping out of the water and flopping onto the grass.

GLaDOS gave him a sideways glance. "Don't you need water to breath, considering that you were turned into a fish?"

"Um, maybe? I mean, it's more comfortable in the water, but I guess I'm not suffocating right now…"

"I suppose the Perpetual Testing Initiative discovered universes where our own laws of science didn't apply; this one is probably no different," she concluded, turning to leave again.

"Wait, let me come with you!" he called, flopping after her.

"Why would I _ever_ allow you to come with me?" she demanded, whirling around to glare at him.

"Um, I could, uh, help with… water! Yeah, if you ever, you know, have ponds that need investigating, or, or what if you fell in? Huh? Can you swim? It doesn't look like you can swim," he replied.

"One, I can levitate over water, and two, I don't see why I would ever need to investigate a pond."

"Oh, come on! We're from the same world, right? Shouldn't we stick together to find a way back?" he protested.

"How could you possibly help me? You're a fish that's so weak it can't even swim upstream, which is amazingly fitting for you, by the way," she retorted.

"What if I-" He was interrupted by a loud shriek from one of the pathways leading out of the clearing.

_Meanwhile…_

"No, wait! You have to take us back!" the young male Starly pleaded.

"Sorry, chick," the female Jolteon replied, "Rescue teams don't operate for free."

"B-but," the female Starly protested, "When you said you would help find my brother, you didn't mention payment!"

"You should have known," the Sneasel, also female, chided, "It's not a mystery that hiring a rescue team can be expensive, especially top-notch rescue teams like Team Quickstep."

The two Pokémon turned to leave.

The male Starly gathered his courage. "Oh, yeah?" he finally called after them, "If you don't take us out of this Dungeon, we'll just follow you!"

The Jolteon and the Sneasel froze, and the Starly swallowed hard as they turned to face him.

"Not if we make you faint!" threatened the Sneasel, spreading the two large claws on her paw at him. The Jolteon growled in agreement, tiny sparks crackling along her yellow flank.

Chell, watching from the shadows of the corridor outside the clearing, decided she didn't like where this was going. She had been thrown into a strange world, turned into a strange blue dinosaur thing, and found it rather strange that she could understand the speech of other species of strange animals while still being unable to speak herself, but still felt like someone needed to help those two young birds. They didn't look like they were any match for the black cat-weasel hybrid creature or the yellow fox that threatened them. Chell didn't know if she would be much better at fighting, but what she did know was that in this form she had a large, hard head with a nasty bite and little bit of fire that the creatures that tried to attack her before didn't seem to like.

She stepped into the corridor and tried to clear her throat to catch the creature's attention, but instead of "ahem" it came out as a growl. The cat-weasel and the fox turned.

"What's a Bagon doing out in this forest? Are you in a rescue team, too?" the fox asked.

Unable to reply verbally, Chell walked around the two animals and stood in front of the birds, facing the cat-weasel and the fox.

"Wow! Is she helping us?" the male bird asked his sister excitedly.

"Well, are you? Speak up! Meowth got your tongue?" the fox demanded.

Chell silently nodded.

"Oh, yeah? Well…" The cat-weasel challenged. She paused, as if trying to think of something cool to say. "Well, we'll teach you not to mess with Team Quickstep!"

The creature charged, her long claws glinting in the sunlight. Chell lowered her head and charged as well.

What happened next was rather like what would happen if a cowboy tried to beat a bull at his own game. Chell, with her hard head, felt the impact much less than the cat-weasel, who was sent flying, shrieking until she hit the ground with a thud.

"You… you stupid little dragon!" the fox snarled, sparking even more.

_I'm a dragon?_ Chell thought.

It was at this point that, after hearing the cat-weasel shriek, GLaDOS levitated into the clearing, followed by Wheatley who was awkwardly flopping along on the forest floor.

"What is going on here?" she asked, curious.

Chell looked at the odd metallic creature, recognizing her voice.

"What's going on?!" yelled the cat-weasel as she got up, "Here we are in the middle of a rescue mission, and this Bagon waltzes in here and attacks us without saying a word!"

"But you weren't rescuing us!" the female bird yelped.

"Oh, no," GLaDOS sighed, fixating her gaze on what was apparently a Bagon, "It's _you_, isn't?"

Chell nodded silently.

"It's who?" Wheatley asked

"_Her_," GLaDOS replied.

"Who?" asked the fox.

"Oh God, it's _her_?" Wheatley said, astonished.

"Who is she?" demanded the cat-weasel.

"The lady!" Wheatley replied.

"The what?" asked the cat-weasel.

"The 'Bagon'," GLaDOS corrected.

"But _who is she_?" asked the fox, very confused by this point.

GLaDOS rolled her eye. "Her name is Chell," she finally explained.

"Nice to meet you, Chell," said the male bird. She nodded in acknowledgment.

"You know her?" the fox asked GLaDOS.

"Unfortunately," the former AI replied.

"_Anyway_," exclaimed the cat-weasel, "Are we going to go back to fighting, or what?"

"We're fighting?" Wheatley yelped, alarmed.

"Not _you_, stupid Magikarp," the cat-weasel scoffed, "The Pokémon who can _actually_ fight."

"If you're with her," the fox growled at GLaDOS, "Then you're against us, too!"

"What? I'm not with – Hey!"

_Jolteon used Tackle! It's not very effective…_

"That barely hurt, you know," GLaDOS taunted, though did hurt significantly more than a little mouse bashing its face into her steel hide.

Meanwhile, Chell was again facing off against the cat-weasel, who now knew not to charge at her.

_Chell used Ember! It's super effective!_

_Sneasel used Scratch!_

_Wheatley used Splash! But nothing happened!_

"What are you doing, moron?" GLaDOS asked.

"Umm…" Wheatley began. He was interrupted by the fox again attacking GLaDOS.

"Are you really going to keep doing that? I'm made of metal. I'm surprised that doesn't hurt you more than it hurts me. I'm getting sick of it, though." GLaDOS had been resisting using her actual move and had resorted to lighter attacks, knowing the recoil damage would add up. However, she was getting tired of the relentless tackles.

_GLaDOS used Take Down! GLaDOS is damaged by the recoil!_

The fox was sent skidding back. "Ow ow ow…" she muttered, "That stings…"

"Are you going to attack again, after that?" GLaDOS inquired tauntingly.

The fox steadied herself and charged.

_Jolteon used Tackle! GLaDOS avoided the attack!_

_GLaDOS used Take Down! GLaDOS is damaged by the recoil!_

_Jolteon used Sand Attack! GLaDOS' stats were not lowered due to Clear Body!_

On the other end of the clearing, the cat-weasel had not been having a good time since Chell discovered she was weak to her Ember attack. She had even been burned, which ticked away her strength as the battle wore on.

_Sneasel used Scratch!_

_Chell used Ember! It's super effective!_

_Sneasel is hurt by her burn!_

_Sneasel used Leer! Chell's Defense fell!_

_Chell used Ember! It's super effective!_

_Sneasel is hurt by her burn!_

_Wheatley used Splash! But nothing happened!_

And on it went until finally the two Pokémon gave up.

"Enough, enough…"the fox sighed, limping up to her cat-weasel friend, "We're leaving, okay?"

"Don't think this is over," the cat-weasel warned, "Team Quickstep will get you back, you just wait!"

_The Jolteon and the Sneasel fled!_

_GLaDOS grew to Lv. 6!_

_Chell grew to Lv. 6!_

_Wheatley grew to Lv. 6!_

The two birds fluttered up to Chell and GLaDOS fast enough to make GLaDOS jump – or rather, levitate rapidly – back with a start.

"Wow! You guys were great!" the male bird exclaimed, looking at the two of them adoringly as Wheatley flopped up to join them. "By the way, I'm Lee, and this is my sister, Star."

"Are you guys a rescue team? Or an exploration team?" Star asked excitedly.

"No, actually," GLaDOS replied.

"Oh," Lee said, looking disappointed, "Well, you should be one, because you guys were awesome."

"Could you, uh, help us get out of this forest anyway?" Star asked shyly.

"We don't know the way out ourselves," the former AI pointed out.

"No one 'knows' the way out of a Dungeon," Star said, looking confused, "They change all the time, silly! But you're strong enough to fight your way out."

GLaDOS did not appreciate being called 'silly' by a bird.

"Well, uh," Wheatley interjected, making everyone notice he was there lying on his side in the grass for the first time, "we aren't exactly _from_ here, you know."

"Watch what you say, moron," GLaDOS warned.

"What?"

"We don't want to draw attention to ourselves," she explained, knowing it was too late now.

"Oh! Are you from another world?" Lee asked, flapping his little wings with excitement.

"Oh, hush!" his sister said, pecking him, "Those are just stupid stories."

"Actually-" Wheatley began before GLaDOS shot him a glare.

"What do you mean by 'other worlds'?" she asked cautiously.

"There have been rumors," Lee began, "of Pokémon popping up in Dungeons who not only know nothing about Pokémon – like, they don't even know what types are or what species they are – and even claim that they are _not_ Pokémon! They say they're humans!"

"There are no humans around here anymore," Star explained, "But even if there were, they would at least know about Pokémon. They used to catch and train us. But these are just rumors."

"But _everyone_ knows about Dungeons; they're everywhere!" Lee insisted, "If they don't know about Dungeons, they must be from another world! Well? Are you?"

"Yeah," Wheatley replied.

GLaDOS would have preferred to keep the fact that they were from another world a secret since they had no idea how others would react. These two birds, who were obviously quite young, may be fascinated, but others may consider them insane or dangerous.

"That's so cool!" Lee beamed. He pecked his sister. "I _told_ you!"

"But are you _really_ or are you just saying that?" Star inquired suspiciously, cocking her head.

"What world are you from?" Lee asked excitedly, disregarding her.

"Look, it's difficult to explain," GLaDOS replied, "Why don't we get out of this… 'Dungeon' and you can explain a few things about your world."

They wandered on through the Dungeon, which was apparent called "Thorn Woods" after the thorny foliage that formed its walls, with the birds carrying Wheatley. It was apparently one of the smaller and 'easier' dungeons. As they went, Lee rapidly explained practically everything they needed to know about the world of Pokémon, from their species – the two birds were apparently Starly, GLaDOS was a Beldum, Chell was a Bagon, and Wheatley was a Magikarp – to types and type match-ups to stats. Finally, they found a corridor with light on the other end, indicating a way out. Exiting the Dungeon, they entered a normal forest with trees and bushes scattered about rather than massed together in thick walls. From there, the Starly lead the way to the town as night started to fall.

The town was fairly small and was located on the coast with half of it floating over the water. To the west of the town was a beach bordered to its west by cliffs. The half of the town that was on solid ground was made up of small stone buildings while the half over the water was made of wood. The buildings appeared to all be shops, with Pokémon standing in front of counters with the buildings behind them. Nothing, however, looked like a house. The Starly gave them a quick tour, pointing out a shop run by Pokémon called Kecleon, a bank run by a Persian, and a storage building run by Kangaskhan. At the top of the cliff, they said, was the post office, headed by Pelipper.

"If you want to be a rescue team, you'll have to register at the Pelipper Post Office," Lee explained.

"But we don't want to be a rescue team," GLaDOS said for the umpteenth time.

"But you're so – well, since you're only level 6 right now, I can't exactly say _strong_," Star said, "But you've got potential! Besides, you need to make money somehow, and if you really _are_ from another world, you'll probably have to go into Dungeons to find out how to get home. Rescue teams have the most access to Dungeons."

"And they say," Lee pressed, "That if someone comes here from another world, they pop up in Dungeons, like you did. What if you have friends out there?"

"Trust me, I don't, and I seriously doubt these two do," GLaDOS replied.

"B-but…" Lee protested, searching for words, "but you'll need to go into Dungeons, and you need money… I mean, unless you want to spend the rest of your life as a store clerk like the Kecleon brothers… Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if you want to go home, you'll probably need to find Legendries to help you, and they're in Dungeons…"

"Hmm…" GLaDOS turned her back on them, thinking this over. Wheatley had been unusually quiet, and Chell had been watching her expectantly. The decision was on her, it seemed, which she was fine with.

"Alright," she said finally, "We'll go ahead and register, just in case it becomes necessary, but don't expect too much."

"Awesome!" Lee flew up in the air and did a somersault, leaving his sister to drop Wheatley on the ground. "Now all you need is a team name, and a mailing address – Oh! You don't have a place to stay do you? Um, uh…" Lee looked about frantically, as if a house would suddenly pop out of the ground for him. "Oh! I know of the perfect place! Follow me!" He darted off toward the beach.

He led them to the cliff face at the edge of the beach, where he pulled aside some vines to reveal a cave hidden behind them, complete with a mailbox.

"A rescue team used to live here, but they cleared out," he explained, "I think they even left their beds and chests here."

Inside was a cavern with a few beds made of moldy straw that must have been left there for a while with a few wooded chests next to them. In the middle was a fire pit, and at the far end a couple tunnels extended into darkness. The walls were ringed with unlit torches. Despite being by the beach, this room, at least, was fairly dry. The Starly dropped Wheatley in the ocean, claiming that they thought there was a cave entrance underwater as well.

"I guess you'll have to replace the beds…" Star said, looking concerned. Chell stepped up to one of them, sneezed, and stepped away again.

They went back outside, where Wheatley was floating close to shore.

"Now all you need is a team name," Lee said, "How about team… team… Bag… dum… karp? Because you have a Bagon, a Beldum, and a Magikarp?"

"No," GLaDOS said immediately, "I suppose the one thing we all have in common is Aperture, so we'll just call it that." Chell shrugged in response.

"Team Aperture? Okay, if you say so… We'll go to the Pelipper Post Office for you, so you guys can get settled in," Lee said. With that, the Starly siblings flew up the cliff.

"Wow. What a day, eh?" Wheatley said, "First we get thrown in this strange new world, now we're a rescue team…"

"What do you mean, 'we'?" GLaDOS asked, "What makes you think you're on the team?"

"B-but, I…"

"You can't even walk, let alone defend yourself. It's clear we're going to have to do a lot of fighting, which is hard enough in these strange bodies. We don't need to be looking after you as well. You would only slow us down, not to mention the fact that you've tried to kill us before. Consider this punishment" she explained coldly. She levitated back toward the cave, looking back to make sure her former test subject would follow.

"Chell…" he called softly. Chell looked from him to GLaDOS, then followed her into the cave.

"I guess that's what I get for being all bossy before…" he muttered to himself before turning and swimming out into deeper waters, "But I am _not_ weak or useless _or_ a moron. I'll show them. I'll prove myself, somehow…"

A large blue sea creature with a spikey grey shell (Whom he later found out was a Lapras) swam gracefully toward him. At first he panicked, thinking she was about to eat him, but then she spoke in a soothing voice, "Try swimming upstream."

"What? Oh, sorry, I don't think I have time right now for, uh, wise words of… wisdom," he stammered, turning to swim away.

"I wasn't trying to be wise," she said with a chuckle, "I meant that literally. The Thunderous River empties into the ocean west of the town. Since they are not natural fighters, many Magikarp toughen themselves up by swimming against currents, like that of the river."

"Really?"

"Indeed. Far down the river is a waterfall. They say that if a Magikarp can get to the top of a waterfall, it will evolve into Gyarados, which is a rather powerful Pokémon," she explained.

"All I have to do is swim to the top of the waterfall? Great!" Wheatley swam east toward the town, forgetting his difficulty with the stream earlier that day.

"It's not that easy-" she called after him, but he didn't stop.

Meanwhile, Chell and GLaDOS tried to settle into their new home. Chell lit the torches with her Ember attack, then went outside for firewood.

With a fire lit in the center of the cavern, they sat in awkward silence. GLaDOS found that she could cling to the rock wall using the hooks on her backside, which seemed like a comfortable enough way to sleep. Chell had apparently decided that the stone floor by the fire was better than the moldy straw beds, which was probably for the best. The last thing either of them needed was for one of them to get sick.

As if through some silent agreement, they decided to go to sleep.

**A/N: First of all, allow me to explain why I have Chell as a Salamence (I focused on the final evolutions, since that's what they'll eventually become). First, when looking for Pokémon for her, I focused on Flying types. There are two reasons. First, in the line "Mia bambina, oh ciel!" from "Cara Mia Addio," the word "ciel" is used as a pun on Chell's name and means "sky" or "heaven." The second and main reason, though, is that wings and flight tend to symbols for freedom, and all she is really doing throughout the game is fighting for freedom. Her tenacity and determination to be free is another reason I chose Salamence. Bagon (and presumably Shelgon) long to fly, and their determination to fly is so strong that it triggers a mutation that allows them to grow wings and become Salamence. Mutating your body by force of will is almost as astonishing as a human test subject not only surviving a journey from the depths of Aperture and back while omnipotent, homicidal AIs try to kill her, but in the end befriending one such omnipotent, homicidal AI.**

**GLaDOS was a bit easier. When it comes to super-intelligent Pokémon (of course she has to be one of the super-intelligent Pokémon), three come to mind. There's Alakazam, a… bipedal fox that bends spoons? I know it has an IQ of 5,000, but it didn't strike me as fitting. Its abilities are like those of so-called psychics in real life, which have been thoroughly debunked by science, which is another reason I didn't pick it for a science-obsessed AI. Second, there's Slowking. The reason I didn't pick it is obvious; it's pink, squishy, and she would have to start off as one of the stupidest Pokémon and hope that a Shellder bites her head. Then there's Metagross. It's more intelligent than a supercomputer (or at least smarter than a supercomputer in the Pokémon world; in the Portal universe it might be as smart as GLaDOS) and it's robotic, which is nicely fitting. It's also a pseudo-legendary, which correlates to GLaDOS' omnipotent power over Aperture. On a side note, I know the Pokédex says that Metagross results from the fusion of two Metang and Metang results from the fusion of two Beldum, but in the game you don't actually need four Beldum to get a Metagross. A Beldum just evolves into a Metang like any other Pokémon, so that's how it will work here.**

**Finally, we have Wheatley as a Gyarados. The transition from a weak little Magikarp to a powerful Gyarados with a terrible temper and a reputation for destroying cities seemed reminiscent of Wheatley going from a weak little core to being in charge of the whole facility while also gaining a terrible temper and nearly destroying the facility. I honestly looked into Water types for him because his optic is blue and most people seem to make him a Water type, but it honestly seemed to work out well, not to mention that I wanted all three of them to be able to Mega Evolve.**

**Note that the other character's Pokémon may not be as fitting since I was also concerned with having a balanced team.**


	2. Thunderous Forest

**A/N: Remember when I said I would simulate this in my Alpha Sapphire to see how fast they would level up? I've decided it would be more entertaining if I skipped a lot of the leveling and implied that it happened between chapters so they'll always be at the level I need them to be at.**

**Also, it may have been a bad idea to post the first chapter when I did. That was during a break, but once I got back in school, I felt more overworked than ever. This isn't helped by the fact that instead of adding extra days to the end of the school year to make up for snow days like usual, the district decided to lengthen our days by an hour for three weeks. That's over now, so I will be able to actually write.**

GLaDOS added "dreaming" to the long list of things that she hated. For a moment, she actually believed she was back home, despite the bleary vagueness of it. Waking up did not make her feel any better. At least the lunatic was still asleep so she could have time to herself to figure this body out fully.

…

Chell blinked awake when a small rock bounced off her nose. She stood up, and saw to her irritation that she was surrounded by similar rocks. She flashed a glare at the golden-eyed Beldum watching her from the other side of the cave.

"Oh good, I'm getting better at this," GLaDOS said cheerfully, "Watch." She looked down at the small pile of rocks and pebbles next to her, and after a moment or so one of them slowly lifted off the ground. After hovering for a moment, it flew straight at the little blue dragon, who dodged it this time. "See?" the former AI inquired, "ESP and psychokinesis have been completely disproven in our universe, but it exists here, so I don't have to use my face as a weapon anymore. Although, throwing rocks _is_ just as crude… I wonder if a creature can maintain that power if it moves from this world to ours? Think of the science we could do!"

Chell did not think of the science. Instead, she padded over to the Beldum and puffed a small stream of fire at her.

_Chell used Ember!_

_GLaDOS avoided the attack!_

"Hey," she scolded, "I was only providing you with a scientific demonstration. I hope you learned from it." Chell responded by ramming her head into her. "You really do like using that as a weapon, don't you? I suppose it's due to the species you've turned into now. Its head appears to be rather large, but that may be just you." GLaDOS earned another burst of fire from Chell. "Now, that was just unnecessary."

At the sound of a loud _thunk_ outside the cave entrance, the duo headed outside, emerging just in time to see two large birds (Pelipper, as they would later learn) fly off after dropping a large box they had been holding by a pair of ropes. On the side was a tag labelled "Rescue Team Starter Set / To: Team Aperture / From: Pokémon Rescue Organization."

"So those two birds really weren't kidding," GLaDOS said, sounding annoyed, "Let's hope taking this job actually proves to be useful. See if you can open it without setting it on fire."

Chell sliced the ropes binding it shut with her fangs and opened the box.

_There was a __**Rescue Team Badge**__ inside!_

_There were two __**Backpacks**__ inside!_

_There was a copy of __**Pokédex – A Pokémon's Guide to Pokémon**__ inside!_

_There was also a copy of __**The Rescue Team Dungeon Survival Guide**__ inside!_

"I guess this wasn't a total waste," GLaDOS said, using her newly discovered psychic power to pull the Pokédex – A Pokémon's Guide to Pokémon out. She set the book down and opened it. "This says it has information on every species of Pokémon here… we just have to find our own species… Is there a table of contents in this thing? Is there any particular reason all of the species are numbered in this way?" She flipped rapidly though the pages. "Oh, I found you; number 371, Bagon, the 'Rock Head Pokémon,' which already makes complete sense. Oh, look, here I am: Beldum, number 374, the 'Iron Ball Pokémon'… It's powered by magnetic force instead of blood? Interesting…"

While the former AI poured over the book, undoubtedly memorizing everything within it, Chell wandered off toward the town.

As she walked around the edge of town, watching as the Pokémon wandered around, stopping to look at the various shops, she noticed a small commotion in front of the forest bordering the town. A large creature, resembling a bat and yet clearly reptilian, stood in front of the two young bird Pokémon from before. Alongside him stood the two Pokémon, the cat-weasel and the fox (or rather the Sneasel and the Jolteon, as GLaDOS informed her later), who attacked her yesterday. Oddly enough, they didn't seem hostile. Instead, they looked somewhat embarrassed.

As she cautiously approached, the large bat noticed her and spoke in deep, rumbling voice, "Is this the one you attacked?"

The Jolteon looked at her and nodded, her ears drooping. The bat stalked up to her and loomed over her. Chell took a step back.

"I would like to thank you," he said. Chell blinked in reply. He went on, "you see, these two are the youngest and most recent addition to my team, Team Quickstep, and are still very young and immature. They do not quite understand what it means to be on a rescue team. You taught them a valuable lesson." Chell blinked again in surprise. He looked over his shoulder at the two young Pokémon following him. "I believe you each have something you would like to say."

"Sorry," the Sneasel muttered under her breath, looking away.

"No, really, we are," the Jolteon said sincerely.

"I've heard you and your friend formed a rescue team as well," the bat said with what appeared to be a fanged smile, "I look forward to seeing you in the field." With that, he scooped up the two youngsters and took off.

"Wow," Star breathed, starry-eyed, "When that Noivern flew to our tree and demanded to see us, I thought we were dead meat! But he actually made those two apologize for attacking us."

"It turns out that Kalang is actually a pretty cool g- I mean, Pokémon, despite his ruthless reputation," Lee added, "So, uh, did you guys get the Rescue Team Starter Set?" Chell nodded. "Really? What was in it?" Chell stared at him awkwardly, wondering how to respond.

"You… don't talk much, do you?" Star asked. Chell shook her head.

"She's mute, in fact."

Chell whirled around, startled. GLaDOS calmly hovered behind her.

"She may also be brain damaged," the former AI went on, "which may be why she is so keen on using her head as a weapon."

"I thought that was a Bagon thing…" Lee muttered.

"Either way, she's still likely to be brain-damaged," GLaDOS insisted. "Anyway, I only came to find out where my tes- er, _friend_ had wandered off to. We should probably get going. We have… jobs to do."

The Beldum turned and levitated off with the Bagon quietly following.

"While you were away, I took the liberty of going to the post office and finding a few jobs for us to do, just to see if this 'rescue team' thing would be worth our while," GLaDOS said, "Luckily that survival guide has a list of known Dungeons and what sort of Pokémon can be found there. It turns out that despite Thorn Woods being a smaller, easier Dungeon filled with weak Pokémon, Pokémon still get lost in it and require a rescue team to extract them. So we'll start there."

They spent the next week going on missions, only in Thorn Woods at first before they had leveled up enough to try larger, stronger Dungeons.

Chell did most of the fighting. As she leveled up, she learned several new moves, and by the time she was level 19, she knew Headbutt, Dragon Breath, Bite, and Ember. She used to know Rage and Leer, but as she learned new moves, she seemed to forget old ones, as she only consistently used four at a time. GLaDOS, meanwhile, still only knew Take Down, despite also being level 19. She decided that since the recoil damage from that attack added up over time, and throwing rocks was below her, it was best that she stepped back and let the murderous lunatic do her thing. GLaDOS, meanwhile, was the one who knew what moves to use against what Pokémon, and who knew what berries to use to cure Chell whenever she was poisoned or paralyzed. As the more intelligent one, she figured she ought to be making the decisions and strategizing rather than doing the dirty work.

Shortly after they each hit level 19, they received a letter in the mail advising them to investigate strange activity at the top of the Dragon Gate Falls, at the end of the Thunderous Forest Dungeon.

"A group of Pokémon seems to think they can catch a Legendary Pokémon at the Dragon Gate and are setting something up there. We need the Gate to evolve, but they're keeping us out! Please clear them out!

Client: Gyarados

Objective: Defeat the criminal team.

Place: Thunderous Forest 10F

Reward: Key Stone"

The Thunderous Forest, GLaDOS knew from the Survival Guide, was a Dungeon just below their level that was named such due to the constant roaring noise heard within the forest caused by the Thunderous River which neatly divided it in half. The noise was caused by the many waterfalls and cataracts along the river's path, as the land it flowed through sloped downward, sometimes with sudden drops, all the way to the sea. The end of the Thunderous Forest Dungeon was marked by a cliff, over which flowed the river's tallest waterfall, Dragon Gate Falls.

According to the Survival Guide, the Dungeon was populated by Grass, Bug, and Poison-type Pokémon that loved to inflict outsiders with poison, sleep, and paralysis. GLaDOS felt a little excited as she filled their backpacks with the berries needed to cure such ailments. This would probably be the mission on which she evolved. Once she hit level 20, she knew she would evolve into Metang and finally be able to learn new moves. Chell, meanwhile, would have to stay in that small, juvenile form until she reached level 30. She didn't know what evolution would entail, but was eager to find out. For science, of course. Wheatley, ironically, would also evolve at level 20, but she doubted he was still alive after being left on his own, let alone past level 10.

_Meanwhile…_

Wheatley had followed the Lapras's advice. He didn't get too far. Not at first, at least.

He found the mouth of a large river, just as the Lapras had told him. His first problem was getting into it. The current of the water as it gushed into the ocean was far stronger than he expected, and it took a whole day of fighting it, getting swept out to sea, fighting it again, getting swept out again, resting, and repeating before he had even made it into the river. After resting for the night, he found that the next day he was again able to make it into the river and was even able to push a short ways in before getting swept out.

_Wheatley grew to Lv. 7!_

Soon he was able to swim up the river and past the town…

_Wheatley grew to Lv. 8!_

…Until he came to the first waterfall at the edge of a forest. He tried to jump over it, missed, slammed into the rocks and was subsequently swept out to sea, bumping into more rocks along the way. He was too afraid to go deeper into the ocean, for fear of getting eaten, and so persisted up the river, imagining that, against the odds, there would be a nice safe pond on the other end, and so eventually made it over the first waterfall.

_Wheatley grew to Lv. 9!_

As luck would have it, the next waterfall was higher than the first, and so it again took him a few tries to get over it, but he eventually did.

_Wheatley grew to Lv. 10!_

And so on and so forth. Eventually he even learned an actual attack and used it to scare off any Pokémon that came too close to the river and laughed at his failed attempts to jump up waterfalls.

He was able to make a decent amount of progress every day until he came to the tallest waterfall he had ever seen. Granted, the only waterfalls he had ever seen were the short, little ones along the river, but this one towered above the trees in the forest. Some of those small waterfalls were tall enough for him to learn to swim up them rather than jump, but it could take ages to swim up this thing. He considered giving up and turning back before he remembered that the only other thing he could be do was go back out to sea and scrounge for food until he ended up becoming food.

_Up the waterfall it is, then,_ he thought glumly, _Look at the bright side, though. By getting up this waterfall, I can show Her that not only am I not a moron, I am _not_ weak!_

After making it a couple feet up the waterfall, he was again swept out to sea.

_Meanwhile…_

GLaDOS was moving ahead more than usual. Normally she would hang back and let Chell deal with any enemy Pokémon, but on this mission she seemed eager for a fight. Considering the number of Poison-type Pokémon they were facing, and the fact that GLaDOS was immune to Poison-type moves, Chell didn't really mind. It was nice not having to do all the work for once.

The Thunderous Forest was probably one of the prettier Dungeons they had seen. The foliage forming the corridor walls were lush green and rich with flowers. Berries of all sorts were abundant, making the number of berries they brought with them seem foolish. The only problem was the continuous roar of the river.

There were several wooden bridges spanning the river, and they were often forced to cross back and forth from one side to the other to progress. The planks on each one were slick and it was impossible to cross without being sprayed. Chell paused in the middle of one bridge and looked down over the edge. Below, the river rushed past as a white foam, hissing around boulders without losing pace. Here, the roar was deafening, and the name Thunderous River seemed well deserved.

A rock bounced off the side of her head, and she turned. GLaDOS glared at her from the other side of the bridge. The river, it seemed, had drowned out her calls, and she was impatient to move forward. After Chell crossed the bridge, they continued on.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched. Their hunter surveyed them from a nearby bush. As they moved away, he began to step forward. He stepped on a stone and cursed, hopping around and causing a ruckus that was, lucky for him, drowned out by the drone of the river. As he dodged loudly from one hiding spot to the next, he began humming made-up action music under his breath. When he felt he was sufficiently close to his target, he sprang from his hiding spot, charging as fast as his stubby legs could carry his round body, now loudly singing his action theme.

"DUH-NAH-NAH-NAH-NAAAAH!" he bellowed out his war cry, though no one could hear him.

Chell and GLaDOS didn't notice him until he tripped over a stone, flung himself a short ways into the air, landed on his head, bounced, landed on his buttocks, bounced again, and finally landed unceremoniously on his face, digging a small trench in the dirt as he slid toward them.

The pair stared at him as his stubby legs flailed for a moment before he could finally right himself. He looked like a mushroom of sorts, with the upper portion of his body a pale pink with green spots. This section ended with a frill that encircled his body, like he was wearing a skirt. Beneath this skirt he was green with round little legs.

_A Shroomish?_ GLaDOS thought. She hadn't looked too much into this Pokémon; she only took note of the fact that it could spread toxic spores and that it was probably a resident of this Dungeon.

The Shroomish said something, but of course with the river it was impossible to hear what. The pair only stared at him. After a moment he realized the problem and began marching away from the river bank. He lacked arms, but made some sort of gesture with his body that seemed to indicate that he wanted them to follow him.

They moved as far away from the river bank as the Dungeon walls would let them. They ended up in a room where they could almost comfortably speak to each other without shouting.

"That's better!" the Shroomish proclaimed, his voice oddly familiar, "A man can't taunt his foes if his foes can't hear 'im!" He turned to face them. "Name's Rick! Prepare to die!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Wait. You're one of those corrupted cores," GLaDOS pointed out.

"Corrupted? Ha! More like under appre- Wait, how'd _you_ know that?!" Rick yelled in alarm, "Oh, wait, you're that potato! And the little lady!" He winked at Chell, who rolled her eyes. "After you gave that blue core a what-for, I knew you'd become somethin' fierce! Just like me!" He attempted to strike a pose, but that didn't work out well. Due to his lack of limbs, he mostly opened his mouth and tipped his round body forward. "So. What've you ladies been up to?"

"We formed a rescue team in order to-"

"A rescue team!?" Rick exclaimed, "That's perfect! Going into a world filled with danger, rescuing damsels in distress! It's the perfect job for an Adventure Core! Count me in!"

"Wait. We've already had one core try to join us and he turned out to be completely useless. I'm not going to carry around dead weight," GLaDOS insisted.

"Dead weight? Pfft! I'll show you what I can do! En garde!" The Shroomish puffed himself up, ready for a fight.

"He's a Grass-type, Chell," GLaDOS reminded her as she stepped forward.

_Chell used Ember!_

_Rick avoided the attack!_

"Take this!" Rick shouted, jumping into the air.

_Rick used Spore!_

Spores spewed from the opening at the top of his head, hitting the surprised Bagon in the face. Her eyes drooped and she tipped forward.

_Chell fell asleep!_

"Wish I coulda done that while she was a human," Rick said with a snicker before he was knocked to the side.

_GLaDOS used Take Down! GLaDOS is damaged by recoil!_

"Putting your opponents to sleep is not very manly or heroic, just so you know," GLaDOS said.

"Okay, fine! One-on-one, you and me, no sleeping!" Rick agreed.

"Oh, I'll probably do more damage to myself than you will to me…" GLaDOS muttered in annoyance.

_GLaDOS used Take Down! GLaDOS is damaged by recoil!_

"Ouch, that smarts…" Rick murmured, shaking himself, "Oh, I know what to do!"

_Rick used Mega Drain! It's not very effective… _

_GLaDOS had her energy drained!_

"Hey! That didn't give me nothin'!" Rick complained.

"That's because it didn't do much damage, you idiot," GLaDOS replied.

_GLaDOS used Take Down! GLaDOS is damaged by recoil!_

"You hit hard, girl…" Rick groaned as he slowly stood back up, wincing. He tried to stand, but fell over again.

_Rick was defeated!_

_GLaDOS grew to Lv. 20!_

_Wait, didn't I just…?_ GLaDOS thought, _I feel strange…_

_What? GLaDOS is evolving!_

Chell started to wake up as GLaDOS started to glow, turning into a pure white silhouette that grew and changed shape. Then, as soon as it came, the white light disappeared.

_Congratulations! Your GLaDOS evolved into a Metang!_

_GLaDOS learned Metal Claw!_

_GLaDOS learned Confusion!_

"W-What the-? What just happened?" Rick managed to stand up again after recovering a little.

"I read that when a Pokémon meets certain requirements, it evolves into a stronger, more mature Pokémon. For me, that requirement was to reach level 20, which I did by beating you," GLaDOS explained, "To be honest, it wasn't pleasant. I feel… dizzy."

Her levitating form dropped closer to the ground as she placed one of her new hands on her head. Chell reached into her backpack and pulled out an Oran Berry, offering it to her.

"No, I don't think that would help," the new Metang told her. Chell gave it to Rick instead.

"Whoa, I feel loads better! Who knew a little berry could do that?" he exclaimed after eating it, "So, uh, are you impressed enough with my prowess to let me join your team?" Rick asked.

"No, I'm not impressed at all. …But I suppose that Spore attack would be useful."

"So I'm in?"

"Unfortunately."

"Yes!" He somehow managed to jump with his tiny feet. "I mean, of course. I knew you'd need me," he corrected himself in an attempt to be suave about it.

_Rick joined Team Aperture to go on adventures!_

"Alright! Let's take this forest down!" Rick marched off into the Dungeon.

"Don't make me regret my decision," GLaDOS called after him.

"So! What damsel are we saving in this adventure?" Rick asked as they continued through the Dungeon.

"We're not rescuing anyone. A group of Pokémon is causing trouble at the top of the waterfall," GLaDOS explained.

"A team of baddies, eh? Well, leave it to ol' Rick to teach them a lesson while you have yourselves a little lady break!"

They fought their way through the Dungeon until finally they had reached the top of the cliff. The path lead straight to a large, flat wooden bridge that stretched over the river just a few feet before it plummeted over the edge as a large waterfall, Dragon Gate Falls. In front of the bridge, closer to the Falls, was what GLaDOS assumed was the Dragon Gate, a gateway that oddly looked Japanese. In front of the Gate were two golden statues of a fearsome sea serpent facing each other on either side of the top of the waterfall. The statues reared, snarling at each other with large, gaping mouths like they were about to fight. The bridge was covered with Pokémon, mostly fully-evolved, high-level Dragon and Fairy-types, that stood facing the Gate, which was covered with a large net.

"Hey! What d'ya think you're doing?" Rick demanded, marching right up to the bridge.

The Pokémon turned and scoffed at him.

"Get out of here, Shroomish," a Dragonite ordered him, "I know Fire Blast and I wouldn't think twice about using it."

"I'm not afraid of you!" Rick replied.

"Back down, Adventure Core," GLaDOS added, "These Pokémon are well above you." _They're above all of us… Normally Pokémon who mail us rescue requests have heard of us and know what sort of level we are, so why would anyone send us to do this? …Wait, I know what happened._

"All three of you need to clear out before we toss you over the falls," a Mawile sneered, turning around to snap her massive jaws at them.

"…We should leave," GLaDOS told her team reluctantly.

"What?! Why? I can take 'em!" Rick insisted.

"No, you can't. I think our client sent that letter to several rescue teams without heeding their relative strength. This mission was meant for a more experienced rescue team," she explained, "We shouldn't have come. Let's go and let someone else handle this."

Muttering broke out among the Pokémon gathered on the bridge. "Rescue teams? Coming here?" they seemed to be asking themselves.

"Calm down. We're more than strong enough," the Dragonite assured them, "We'll have that Palkia in no time!"

"Palkia?" GLaDOS inquired.

"Hm? Didn't we just tell you to leave?" the Dragonite huffed.

"Yes, we're going, but it wouldn't hurt to tell us a little bit," GLaDOS pressured him.

"Well, Palkia is this Legendary Water-Dragon-type Pokémon. They say it passes through this gate when it travels from this dimension to another," the Mawile explained.

"They didn't need to know that!" the Dragonite growled.

"So? It wouldn't hurt!" she protested.

"They'll run to a stronger rescue team and tell them what we're doing! That's it, we're silencing them!" the Dragonite roared. He and two other Pokémon, a Garchomp and a Kingdra, stepped closer to them.

"Wait, don't jump to conclusions," GLaDOS tried to reason with them as they came closer. A few other Pokémon flew over their heads and landed behind them.

As they closed in, a small flash of red burst over the waterfall. Wheatley passed between the two statues, flew through a hole in the net, which was rather large as if the net was designed to catch a large Pokémon, and landed on the bridge with a wet slap. He lay on his side, exhausted.

_Wheatley grew to Lv. 20!_

_What? Wheatley is evolving!_

The Pokémon on the bridge began to back away as he started to glow white. He rapidly began to grow, becoming increasingly serpent-like as he did so.

"He-He's evolving into a Gyarados!" one of the Pokémon cried.

"He'll rampage and destroy everything!" came another.

"Calm down! If he's just now evolving, then he's only level 20!" the Dragonite shouted at them. They seemed to calm down until Wheatley finished evolving.

_Congratulations! Your Wheatley evolved into Gyarados!_

_Wheatley learned Bite!_

Wheatley blinked in confusion. He looked down at his new body, then back at the Pokémon staring at him. "Whoa, I'm bloody massive again!" he exclaimed before roaring as loudly as he could.

_Wheatley's Intimidate lowered everyone's Attack!_

"Ayiiiee!"

"Let's get out of here!"

The Pokémon on the bridge promptly fled.

"Where are you going? He's only level- oh, never mind," the Dragonite looked down at the rescue team trio, "You little ones are lucky," he sneered before taking off.

Rick ran up to the Gyarados. "Sweet! Good job, big guy, you had 'em peeing their pants!"

"None of them were wearing pants," GLaDOS pointed out.

"Oh, it's you guys!" Wheatley said, "So," he lowered his big head down to GLaDOS, "Am I still too weak and useless to join your team? Huh, huh?"

"Do you even want to join?" GLaDOS retorted, unintimidated (Literally. Her Clear Body ability prevented his Intimidate ability from working on her.).

"I don't know, you may not be good enough for me," he scoffed, raising his head and turning away from them.

"Fine," she replied, turning to go.

When Wheatley saw her go with Chell and Rick following, he quickly slithered after them. "Wait, wait, I do want to join, really!" Even though he was much bigger and stronger, he didn't like the idea of being alone again, especially since he still worried about the fact that there might be something even _bigger_ than him in the sea.

"Very well, I suppose I can't refuse you now," GLaDOS sighed, "Now, to deal with the net over the gate."

_Wheatley joined Team Aperture to go on adventures!_

"I'll take care of it!" Wheatley insisted.

_Wheatley used Tackle!_

He got hopelessly tangled in the net.

"Hmm. It's too wet to burn," GLaDOS observed, levitating around the Dragon Gate, "I might be able to cut it, actually."

_GLaDOS used Metal Claw!_

Her claws sliced through the rope, leaving part of it dangling.

"That works," she said.

She continued around the edge of the net, slicing it free despite Wheatley's protests. Finally, she cut it free and it, along with Wheatley, plummeted down the waterfall and into the river below.

"Let's head back now," she said.

"What about the big guy?" Rick asked.

"He'll be fine," GLaDOS insisted.

As they were about to head down the path to the forest floor, a rescue team consisting of an Alakazam, a Charizard, and a Tyranitar came up the path. Needless to say, they were shocked.

"The criminals here were reported to be quite powerful; how did you defeat them?" the Alakazam inquired.

"We… didn't," GLaDOS answered.

"Oh, yes we did! We-" Rick began before GLaDOS silenced him with a glare.

"A Gyarados came and scared them off," she explained.

"You got lucky," the Charizard said, "They would've killed you."

"Hmm…" The Alakazam studied them for a moment. "I suppose that since you cleaned up their mess, you may as well get the reward," he decided.

"What? But the Key Stone… They aren't strong enough to use it!" the Tyranitar protested.

"Not yet, but they have the potential to make good use of it. Besides, we did nothing to help," Alakazam replied, "Now, let's head back to the Pelipper Post Office."

**A/N: I wanted to use each character's Pokémon on its personality and skills, but with many of the cores, there isn't much personality there. One is obsessed about space, another is curious, another babbles random, and often incorrect, facts. There isn't really a Pokémon that matches any of these things. So for the cores, I decided to use the color of each core's optic to determine what type of Pokémon it would be and go from there. That would not only narrow down the search, it would help me make sure the team has a variety of types.**

**Rick's optic is green, so he ought to be a Grass type. However, his personality actually has more substance than most of the other cores'. Going off of his personality, he is clearly a Fighting-type. Thankfully, we can compromise, since there are two Grass-Fighting-types – Breloom and Chesnaught. The reason I chose Breloom is that Breloom is far more offensive while Chesnaught is more defensive. Rick, obviously, would probably rather be offensive than defensive.**

**As for why he could use Spore, no, he is not level 40. I thought it'd be fun to recreate this team for competitive use in Alpha Sapphire, and of course a Breloom needs to know Spore. Rather than leveling him up to 40 and then evolving him and spending Heart Scales to make him learn moves he missed, I decided to have his parents learn Spore and pass it down so he can evolve as normal (I also passed down the move Bullet Seed). Reflecting that in the fanfiction also makes him more useful to the team as a Shroomish before he can become an awesome Breloom.**


	3. Settling In

**A/N: If Nintendo can get away with calling the town in Blue Rescue Team something boring like Pokémon Square, then so can I! I was originally going to just leave in nameless, but it seemed easier to just call it something. That's why it suddenly has a name after just being called "the town" for two chapters.**

**Edit: The last few paragraphs have been slightly altered to make more sense. It only changes the story a little bit.**

Alakazam's team went on ahead while Team Aperture untangled Wheatley from the net. He complained about being thrown down the waterfall for a bit until GLaDOS threatened to leave him behind again. After that, they headed back towards the town, which they had learned was aptly named Pokémon Coast.

"I can't believe how _huge_ I am now! Bloody massive!" Wheatley beamed once he got past being tossed down a waterfall, "You're all so tiny and insignificant; I can barely see you!"

GLaDOS stayed a short distance ahead of him with Chell padding along beside her. The small dragon let out a puff of smoke in annoyance.

"Yes, this is sounding a bit familiar," GLaDOS agreed, "Hey, moron, are we going to have to go through this again?"

"Go through what again?" he asked, "And I'm not a moron!"

"You know. You turning into the same power-mad AI you were when you took over the facility, except as a Pokémon," GLaDOS replied, "This time, of course, if we have to get rid of you, we can't be merciful and simply send you to the moon like last time."

"No! Nonononononono! I'm not doing that again! Really, I promise!" he stuttered, looking down at the ground, "I really do wish I could take it all back…"

"How noble of you," she said darkly, "Except you can't." With that, she turned her back on him and hurried after Alakazam's team.

On the cliff by the Pelipper Post Office, a rather large Gyarados waited along with several Magikarp. The Gyarados was surprised to hear Alakazam order that the younger team receive the Key Stone, as she automatically assumed Alakazam's team had chased off the criminals.

_Team Aperture received the promised __**Key Stone**__._

"Sooo… What exactly does a Key Stone do?" Rick asked as they headed along the path down the cliff to the beach.

"On its own, nothing," GLaDOS answered, "But I did read that if one Pokémon holds a Key Stone and another holds a Mega Stone, the two stones can react, allowing the one holding the Mega Stone to Mega Evolve into a temporary, more powerful form."

"Sweet! I want to Mega Evolve!" Rick cheered.

"You can't."

"What?"

"Neither Shroomish nor your evolution, Breloom, have a known Mega Evolution," GLaDOS said, "Metagross, however, _can_ Mega Evolve."

"What, so _you _get to Mega Evolve and I don't?" Rick said, disappointed.

"Right now, none of us can. All we have is one Key Stone and no Mega Stones," GLaDOS said.

They returned to the team base, with Wheatley going into the ocean to find the underwater entrance. Shortly thereafter, a swarm of Zubat and Golbat streamed out of one of the tunnels in the main chamber. Wheatley poked his head through the tunnel.

"Hey, there's a little underground lake back here with a tunnel that leads into the ocean! Pretty cool, eh?" he said.

Once his bed was completed, Rick announced that he was going out to find food.

"Don't stray too far from the town if you don't want to get eaten," GLaDOS warned.

"Ha! I can take on any wild beast!" the Adventure Core boasted.

"These aren't wild beasts; they're Pokémon," she reminded him, "and from what we've seen, they all have intelligence comparable to humans, from the smallest prey items to the largest predators."

"Wait, if Pokémon eat each other, then how can there be towns like this with all different types?" Wheatley asked.

"Towns and cities are safe zones, from what I've heard," GLaDOS replied, "Here, they act civilized. But out in the wilderness, it's the same as it is in the wild in our universe. Speaking of hunting, Chell and I should probably go find food ourselves." She turned to the Bagon, "While your assistance thus far has been appreciated, now that I have evolved I should be perfectly capable of hunting on my own." Beldum, she read, tend to gather in swarms and so probably hunted in a group, but by herself, she was ineffective.

"Wait," Wheatley said in shock, "You're _carnivorous?_ You don't even have a mouth! How do you eat?"

_I'm surprised no one's asked about how she talks,_ Chell thought.

"To put it simply, I teleport the food into my stomach. I've also been using telepathy to speak to you, in case you haven't noticed."

The other Pokémon stared at her, looking rather uncomfortable.

"What? It's not my fault this species works in this way," she protested.

With that, the team fanned out to find food on their own.

Some time later, the team reassembled back at the base. Due to the lack of cooking utensils, none of them bothered to haul there catches back to base and simply ate them raw in the field. It was a gruesome reminder, at least for the carnivores, that Pokémon, despite acting like humans at times, were animals.

Nonetheless, there was a faint smell of blood in the air as Chell and GLaDOS returned, making Rick, the only herbivore in the group, squeamish. Wheatley, on the other hand, poked his head out of his tunnel and slumped down on the ground, exhausted and hungry from failed attempts to catch fish. As a Magikarp, he could scavenge scraps, but as a Gyarados, he needed to hunt for much more.

"So… what sort of adventure are we going on tomorrow?" Rick asked as the team gathered around the fire at the center of the cavern.

"It will probably be just another day of rescuing Pokémon too weak to fend for themselves," GLaDOS replied, crossing her arms and sinking to the floor, "But while you're off doing that, I will be looking for more information about that Palkia Pokémon they mentioned at the waterfall. They said it could move between this dimension and another, and in case you haven't noticed, we are in a different dimension. We may be able to get it to send us back."

"Alright! You leave the rescuin' to me, and you dig up the dirt on this Palkia!" Rick declared, "That dragon owes us money for sendin' us here! Owes. Us. _Money!_"

The other Pokémon rolled their eyes at him.

"And you say _I'm_ a moron," Wheatley huffed.

"Hey!" Rick shouted, scuttling around the fire toward him, "Say that to my face, fish-face!"

The Gyarados reared up and snarled down at the little Mushroom Pokémon.

_Wheatley's Intimidate lowered Rick's Attack!_

Rick involuntarily took a step back.

"You're both morons, just different kinds of morons," GLaDOS stated.

The next morning, Chell woke up early and, feeling restless, remembered Wheatley complaining about not catching anything last night. She supposed she had nothing better to do with everyone else still asleep.

Wheatley woke to his empty stomach rumbling and gnawing at his insides. There was an enticing smell in the water. He rose from the dark underground lake bed, following his nose until it led him to the edge of the lake, where something furry drifted limply to the bottom.

The realization of what it was both enticed and repulsed him – enticed because his Gyarados brain knew was food, repulsed because his robot mind knew it was a dead animal floating in water, one that could very well be carrying diseases.

Then again, the scraps he had been forced scavenge for as a Magikarp were of both meat and plant matter, so he couldn't let this bother him. At least it seemed fresh.

His strength returning, he slithered through the tunnel to the main cavern.

"…Oh, and by the way, you _are_ going to have to clean that up," GLaDOS said, shooting Chell a glare as she pointed to the small, fresh trail of blood leading into the chamber before leaving.

"Look who's finally up!" Rick shouted, scuttling around the room on his tiny legs, "We're goin' off on a rescue mission while the boss is doing reconnaissance in the town! Hurry up!" He dashed out of the cavern.

"Uh, hey," Wheatley said, slithering awkwardly up to Chell, "Um, thanks for the, uh, well, you know…" Chell nodded briskly and turned to leave as his voice trailed off. "Hey, wait!" he called, "I'm sorry! Really really sorry! For everything, for throwing bombs at you, and neurotoxin, and turrets, and fat jokes and…" He stopped as Chell stared unwaveringly at him, her expression unreadable. After a moment, she turned away and gestured for him to follow her outside where they caught up with Rick.

After their mission, GLaDOS revealed that she had good news. North of Pokémon Coast was the region's largest city, called the Pokémon Capital. It was located near the center of the region and most major roads lead through it. Not only was it a massive hotspot for rescue teams and home of the Pokémon Rescue Organization, it was also home of the largest of the region's few libraries. It was there that GLaDOS hoped to find any and all information she needed about this universe, particularly Palkia.

According to the map GLaDOS bought, the Thunderous River was one of the rivers that led to the Capital, which was rather helpful since Wheatley could move much faster in water than he could on land and tended to get dehydrated when he was out of water for too long. With the route settled, they planned to depart the next day.

**A/N: That was a lot shorter than usual, mostly because I didn't have a grand plan for this chapter and it was mostly a set up for the next. And yes, teleportation was the only explanation I could think of for how Metang and Beldum eat. Luckily Metagross actually has a mouth.**


End file.
